8 bit or 16 bit in camera: What do you guys shoot in camera? 8 bit or 16 bit? or shoot 8 bit in camera and then convert to 16 bit in computer? Is there a difference? Also what do you...

saxkiwi Loc: New Zealand

What do you guys shoot in camera? 8 bit or 16 bit? or shoot 8 bit in camera and then convert to 16 bit in computer? Is there a difference? Also what do you save your pix to, tiff or png?

mikemilton

hmmmm...

There are two possible discussions here. One is file format and the other is actual bit depth.

The data from the sensor is actually digitized at 12-14 bits of information (depending on your camera). If you want to keep that level of data, you need to avoid any format with lower bit depth.

You will likely, in the end, use an 8 bit format for sharing but that is after any post processing.

To answer your question:

I shoot raw to keep the full information possible
I use lightroom, and work from the raw files directly
If I print, it is from lightroom (ie: raw + post processing)
For sharing (ie: files not intended for further processing) I use jpg (8 bit)

As an aside, there is little value in converting an 8 bit image to 16 bits as doing so just makes a bigger file holding the 8 bit values

JR1 Loc: Tavistock, Devon, UK

How can you convert 8bit to 16, you can convert 16bit to 8 you can only upsize by interpolation surely.

Why shoot at anything less than best quality anyway be it jpeg or raw

JR1 Loc: Tavistock, Devon, UK

Why on earth would you save a photo to portable network graphics rather than the widely used Jpeg/RAW, even Tagged Information File Format which takes up masses of space

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/imagetypes.htm

breck Loc: Derbyshire UK

16 bit raw in camera, saved as photoshop file.
16 bit contains lots more colour information, if you convert later I do not think you can generate the extra info

JR1 Loc: Tavistock, Devon, UK

breck wrote:

16 bit raw in camera, saved as photoshop file.
16 bit contains lots more colour information, if you convert later I do not think you can generate the extra info

You can't, you cant out in what isn't there to begin with,

http://www.avs4you.com/AVS-Image-Converter.aspx

mikemilton

JR1 wrote:

How can you convert 8bit to 16, you can convert 16bit to 8 you can only upsize by interpolation surely.

Why shoot at anything less than best quality anyway be it jpeg or raw

You can easily put 8bit data into a 16bit file but it isn't very useful except that the full 16bits will be used for subsequent processing. Initially, the 8bit data is simply padded out to 16bits.

I'm not aware of any SW that does the kind of interpolation you are thinking of (interpolating luminance / colour).

JR1 Loc: Tavistock, Devon, UK

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/software/33750-converting-8-bit-images-16-bit-any-benefits.html

mikemilton

JR1 wrote:

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/software/33750-converting-8-bit-images-16-bit-any-benefits.html

Thanks for the link. This quote:
"Converting the original data from 8-bit to 16-bit provides nothing useful for that original data. But of course, if you paste higher bit data into that newly converted data, or build gradients, edit that data severely etc, then yes, it can be somewhat useful. The original data is suck in its state. You didnt improve it by converting it to high bit.

The bottom line is, if you start with high bit data, keep it that way."

said it better than I did

saxkiwi Loc: New Zealand

mikemilton wrote:

hmmmm... br br There are two possible discussions... (show quote)

I shoot in Raw but how do you get the Images from the camera to computer to 16 bit? Is there a setting that I need to do in the Software? Aperture3 in this case. Also have photoshop CS6. But usually use Aperture as its more user friendly. Once they are saved to my backup is it best to leave them 16 bit? And what format do you reckon? PNG Tiff ? I want to keep my files in the best quality possible. Thanks

mdorn Loc: Portland, OR

saxkiwi wrote:

I shoot in Raw but how do you get the Images from the camera to computer to 16 bit? Is there a setting that I need to do in the Software? Aperture3 in this case. Also have photoshop CS6. But usually use Aperture as its more user friendly. Once they are saved to my backup is it best to leave them 16 bit? And what format do you reckon? PNG Tiff ? I want to keep my files in the best quality possible. Thanks

If you use ACR, you have the option of editing in 8 or 16 bit before you open in CS6. With 16-bit you get less banding and posterization, but file size is double which can slow things down a bit. For the few raw photos I do keep, I convert them to TIF

saxkiwi Loc: New Zealand

mdorn wrote:

If you use ACR, you have the option of editing in 8 or 16 bit before you open in CS6. With 16-bit you get less banding and posterization, but file size is double which can slow things down a bit. For the few raw photos I do keep, I convert them to TIF

Sorry whats ACR?

FilmFanatic Loc: Waikato, New Zealand

saxkiwi wrote:

Sorry whats ACR?

Adobe Camera Raw, the plugin which opens Raw files in Photoshop

Also, I don't think most cameras RAW files are actually 16 bit, they are more like 12 or 14 bit

saxkiwi Loc: New Zealand

FilmFanatic wrote:

Adobe Camera Raw, the plugin which opens Raw files in Photoshop

Also, I don't think most cameras RAW files are actually 16 bit, they are more like 12 or 14 bit

Thanks yeah my D3 is 12 bit or 14 bit.

saxkiwi Loc: New Zealand

mikemilton wrote:

hmmmm... br br There are two possible discussions... (show quote)

Thanks. My camera is set to 14 bit, once I convert to 16 bit in SW and process do you think it best to save to backup in 16Bit? I mean is there any reason to convert to 8 bit other than sharing? Best to have a large quality file when you need it? For huge enlargements if needed? Thanks